The Tin Knight-Chapter 47: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork (6)

Adelaide thought to herself.

I thought I was going to lose...

A 5-round battle against various magic dolls.

The final opponent was especially formidable—its mana-filled body made it nearly impervious to blades, and its movements and strength were overwhelming.

Thanks to her rigorous training with the Tin Knight, she managed to endure somehow, but that was her limit.

To be honest, Adelaide had given up on the match halfway through.

If her sword couldn’t cut her opponent, victory was impossible.

Ah, this must be as far as I can go this time.

She thought.

She had been dodging attacks to avoid getting hurt, but in her heart, she had already accepted defeat.

At least, that was how it should have been.

She had been certain she had no chance of winning.

Yet, looking back at the result, victory was somehow in her grasp.

This was unbelievable to Adelaide.

Roll.

Unable to even think of getting up her tired body, Adelaide simply shifted her prone position to lay on her back.

Her golden hair touched the ground and got dirty, but she had long since abandoned the delicacy of caring about such trivial things on the first day of training with the Tin Knight.

Looking up at the ceiling, Adelaide replayed the recent battle in her head.

It was an incredible experience.

The sensation of her body moving with instinct ahead of reason.

A battle that had reached the realm of reflex rather than conscious thought.

Sir Knight’s instructions, they calculated even the gap between me hearing the instructions and actually moving.

Otherwise, such a result couldn’t have happened.

No matter how much Adelaide moved almost unconsciously according to what she heard, there would still be a subtle difference from the Tin Knight moving his own body directly.

And that wasn’t all.

With Adelaide’s strength and weight alone, it would have been impossible to lodge a sword into the wooden doll’s neck, even if it was a weak point in defense.

Yet the attack succeeded because it accurately predicted the timing of the opponent’s charge and countered it.

The Tin Knight had read in advance how the opponent would judge and act, supplementing the strength and momentum that Adelaide alone lacked.

It felt like it was teaching Adelaide that even if she lacked strength compared to her opponent, even if she were slower, even if she didn’t have a sharp weapon, optimally combining her arsenal could still lead her to victory.

Sir Knight is amazing.

Adelaide marveled once again.

Her teacher was indeed amazing.

Yes, really amazing, but...

[The ‘Tin Knight’ burns with enthusiasm, saying to clear levels 6 and 7 as well!]

Please, can’t you consider human limits?

I’ll really die at this rate.

Even now, my whole body was languid, and her shoulder that collided with the magic doll and both wrists that swung the mace were in excruciating pain.

Unable to voice her grievances against the Tin Knight who didn’t understand human feelings, Adelaide’s eyes slowly closed.

Before her consciousness completely faded.

She had the faint sensation of being held by something cold and hard.

***“Wow, amazing. I can understand why Ruben was impressed.”

Clap clap clap.

René von Lennart approached you while applauding.

The instructor, whose gender was hard to determine, praised Adelaide, who was sound asleep on your back and offered words of admiration.

“It’s not that there haven’t been skilled people who passed the 5th level before, but she’s the first to pass without using mana. I’d like to create a hall of fame to commemorate this.”

You wanted to reply that it was a great idea, but unfortunately, you had no mouth to speak with.

It might be possible if you let the other person touch the brooch, but Dorothea had said not to use the brooch unless it was a special case, warning that if it broke from being handed to just anyone, there was no guarantee it could be repaired.

With this in mind, you nodded your head in response instead.

Satisfied with your reaction, René smiled and held out a fan-shaped piece.

Like the pass token received at the Lowefelt dojo, it was part of a circular picture divided into five pieces.

“In the name of René von Lennart, instructor of the Tik-Tok branch of the Lennart dojo, I declare. Adelaide von Lennart has sufficient qualifications to receive recognition from this dojo—“

“Who gave you permission!”

A rough voice forcibly interrupted René’s declaration.

The voice was so loud that most of the disciples spread throughout the amusement park-like dojo turned their gaze toward the main entrance where the voice came from.

René’s expression suddenly twisted.

“Those nuisance old men came again, never getting tired of it.”

“I can hear you, you cheeky brat!!”

An old man with a terrifying physique, his half-gray blonde hair and muscles visibly bulging even through his clothes, glared at René.

Behind the old man were dozens of middle-aged and elderly men with muscles that, while not as impressive as the old man’s, were nothing to scoff at.

The old man saw the token in your hand and growled like a beast.

“The dojo’s token is given only to those worthy of bearing the pride and honor of the dojo. And now you’re handing it over to this mere piece of scrap metal?”

“Are your eyes malfunctioning? This person is merely receiving it on behalf of someone else, the real recipient is the girl carried on his back.”

René’s words and attitude towards the old man were utterly scathing.

And the old man, too, made no attempt to hide his contemptuous and disdainful attitude towards René.

“That’s just as problematic! All the real skilled people of this dojo are here with me. Who exactly did that girl prove her skills against? Did she beat those so-called ‘elite’ fancy toys you play with? If you hand over the token for such a trivial reason, the honor of this dojo will fall to the ground!”

“I am the representative instructor of this dojo. And I’m the one who sets the criteria for awarding tokens. Not you and your gang who were driven out after facing a collective petition for mistreating disciples with your outdated mentality!”

“Oh ho, that’s right. I was driven out. All because of those ungrateful bastards who betrayed their master and seniors without mercy, just because it was a bit physically demanding and difficult, even though I patiently taught them the basics of martial arts!”

As the old man glared around the dojo, the disciples couldn’t meet his gaze and looked at the ground.

There were some who looked back at the old man with displeased expressions, but they were few in number.

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“Enough of this. I’ve tolerated you as a senior of the dojo, but my patience has its limits,” René warned in a cold voice, but the old man snorted.

“Who needs to know their limits will be decided soon.”

The old man threw a piece of parchment towards René.

René caught it and, while frowning, unfolded the parchment to examine its contents.

“Wow, shit.”

A vulgar curse, ill-fitting for such a delicate face, burst out.

Seeming relieved by this reaction, the old man laughed loudly and said, “You saw it well, did you not? It’s a direct order from the Duke himself. It revokes my dismissal as representative instructor and your appointment as representative instructor, and orders a re-judgment under the supervision of the lord of Tik-Tok to determine which side is truly suitable to lead this dojo. Do you understand? You are no longer the representative instructor, and therefore, the token you just rewarded is invalid!”

“You senile old man, really. I thought it was strange to see people not from here scattered about, did you bring all your connections and whine to the main family about being wronged? How can a person be so petty? Are you trying to overturn a settled match with backing?”

“Hmph, babble all you like. On the day the lord of Tik-Tok declares my victory, I’ll overturn this toy garden and turn all those damned pieces of metal into waste!”

“Hey, you damn bastard! Do you know how much money I poured in to get those precious things!! Cut the bullshit!”

“You should quietly step down, René!!”

“That’s right! Even if you pushed out the great master with your petty paperwork, do you think we’ll meekly accept defeat!?”

“What great master! You just arbitrarily attached that title after losing the name of representative instructor!”

“We like the current teaching method!! Get lost, you old geezers who only know how to abuse juniors!!”

The fight that started as an argument between René and the old man now escalated into a market brawl with each side’s followers joining in.

For now, it had somehow hadn’t devolved into a physical conflict yet, but even that was a precarious balance.

You fell into contemplation for a moment.

You were considering whether to slash all those old men and their hangers-on who kept spouting irritating words in front of you.

It was one thing for the old man to call you a piece of scrap metal—you could tolerate that given the “Tin Knight” was indeed an old model, however, him blatantly dismissing the token your pupil has earned through sheer effort was utterly unacceptable.

Honestly, if you weren’t carrying Adelaide on your back, you might have already split their skulls with your sword.

Perhaps sensing your mood, René bowed to you with an apologetic look.

“I apologize for involving you in this troublesome matter. I wouldn’t care with ordinary magic dolls, but I can feel human-like emotions from you. Please leave this to us and go back. You can ignore that old man’s nonsense. Once I regain recognition from the lord again, this will all be meaningless.”

You silently looked at René, then nodded.

It was just as you were walking towards the exit.

“Hey, you! Even if you’re leaving, you should leave that token behind!”

“No, what’s the point of reasoning with a hunk of metal? Let’s just take it back by force!”

Some of the old man’s followers suddenly grabbed you and started spouting nonsense without even apologizing.

Seeing this, René’s eyes widened.

“Hey, you bastards!! What do you think you’re—“

You hadn’t the slightest intention of listening to this pointless squabble any longer.

– Crack!

A middle-aged man who was hit in the shin by your swinging foot curled up, clutching one leg without even being able to make a sound.

Instead of your right hand carrying Adelaide, you stretched out your left, grabbed the back of the head of another wide-eyed middle-aged man, and slammed it down towards the crown of his companion on the ground.

With a sickening thud, the two crumpled to the ground.

Blood seemed to have been spilled, but that wasn’t your concern.

After all, they were the ones who dared rush at you.